Recently, a Facebook friend tagged me on the Seven-Day Book Challenge. I finally got around to it a few weeks ago and “double-teamed” it through FB and Instagram. And then I thought, “Why not share it on the blog, too?”

The rules of the Seven-Day Book Challenge are simple: For seven days, you share a photo or image on Facebook of a different favorite book and nominate another friend to carry on the challenge. There’s no set theme to follow, and you don’t need to write a caption or explanation for why you choose each book. You simply share the photo, tag a friend, and reply to any comments. But for this blog post, I think I’ll “break” one of those rules. 😉

Here are the books I chose for the Seven-Day Book Challenge, and why I picked each one.

Book #1: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring

My “gateway” novel into fantasy literature. If I hadn’t read the Lord of the Rings books or seen the film trilogy, I don’t know if I ever would have been ambitious enough to write my own fantasy stories.

Book #2: Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea

How could I not choose the first book I ever read by my favorite author of all time? I actually went back and forth on whether to share this one or one of UKLG’s science fiction novels. (The Left Hand of Darkness and The Lathe of Heaven both left quite the impression on me.) But A Wizard of Earthsea catalyzed my admiration for Le Guin’s work, so it made more sense to show this one in the end.

Book #3: James McBride’s The Color of Water

Since I read other genres besides fantasy, I figured Book #3 would be a good time to feature a different kind of book. And it was an easy choice. James McBride’s The Color of Water, a memoir / autobiography about a black man (the author) and his white Jewish mother, is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. In fact, when I had to choose a book to teach to my classmates for my English Capstone project in my last semester of college, this was my choice.

Book #4: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Now THIS is how you end a series! 🙂 I couldn’t not pick a Harry Potter book for the challenge, and this is my favorite in the series. I even remember plowing through the last 15 or so chapters (from the sacking of Severus Snape through Harry ending the Battle of Hogwarts) without stopping. It’s a great example of what it means for a book to be “unputdownable.”

Book #5: Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy

I might have gushed about Poemcrazy once or twice before here. (*blushes*) Then again, it’s one of my all-time favorite books on the craft of writing. This isn’t just a book that teaches you how to write poetry, but also how to live a life that makes inspiration infinite and poetry its heartbeat.

Book #6: Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See

Another all-time favorite. More specifically, my favorite fiction novel outside of fantasy. Everything about this World War II story is devastatingly, breathtakingly beautiful. The prose, the characters, the setting, the symbolism, the suspense – and goodness knows how much research Doerr must have done to make it complete.

Book #7: Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea

I don’t think I’ve actually talked about Gift from the Sea here on the blog – which is quite sad, because I love this book! It’s a collection of essays that Lindbergh (wife of aviator / explorer Charles Lindbergh) wrote during a solo vacation by the sea. So there’s a “coastal” influence, since Lindbergh took inspiration from shells, the ocean, and her walks on the beach. But her meditations focus on love, marriage, self-care, and other topics that are relevant to women of all ages.

Did you participate in the Seven-Day Book Challenge on Facebook or Instagram? If so, which books did you highlight? If not, which books would you have chosen? Have you read any of the books highlighted in this post?